Tutorial Thursday #29 shows you 3 important exercises for a better performance at work

Most of us probably know this: sitting around all day and staring into the screen is pretty exhausting and not very healthy. They say ‘sitting is the new smoking’ for a reason! About half of all jobs in Germany are office jobs. You sit around in the same position for hours, your arms bend and your back rounded or overstretched. If your boss is not the modern hippie type and gives you a height-adjustable office table or employs a masseuse for ten minutes of relaxation each day, problems are pretty much bound to occur. Many office workers quickly complain about back and joint pains, tensions, and headaches. How are you supposed to be productive that way?

There is an alternative!

If you implement these three exercises into your daily office routine you will feel better:

1st First of all you should activate your back, shoulder, and neck musculature. To achieve this you should stand upright and actively move your shoulders down and back. Just like you wanted to put your shoulder blades into your back pockets. If you do this continuously this exercise resembles backwards shoulder rotations. In the long run, this will help you stand and sit more upright and, with that, more according to your anatomy.

2nd Afterwards, you can increase this effect by stretching your chest and front shoulder musculature. You can use an aeroSling suspension trainer if you want. Or you can use a wall. Hold this exercise for 15-20 seconds and repeat as often as you like.

3rd Then, you should activate your abs. These are very important for an upright stand and have enormous effect on your sitting position because it holds your pelvis in the correct position. Get up once in a while and get into a plank position to get the job done. Imagine you wanted to internally pull your belly button towards your lumbar spine. 20-30 seconds are already sufficient. Thus, you will concentrate on your core and wake up your abs. Afterwards, you should get into the perfect upright stand first. Tighten your gluteal muscles, right up your pelvis, and fixate it with your abs. Then, you relax your gluteal muscles and sit that butt down.

This will bring a nice little variation into your daily office routine. For if you have to sit for long hours you should regularly change your sitting position. Or don’t you like variety?